1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to commerce in goods and more particularly to a computerized system and method for conducting electronic online auctions to maximize the sale of liquidation goods through the pre-sale of auction currency drafts.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet is increasingly being used to conduct electronic business. In recent years, Internet-based online auction sites have gained widespread popularity and acceptance. Auctions provide a popular and exciting marketplace for the buying and selling of property. In particular, auctions are often used to sell highly valued properties such as fine art, collectibles, real estate, and luxury items. Currently, bidding for millions of items of virtually limitless variety is conducted through an ever-increasing number of online auction sites. These auction sites offer consumers a convenient way to access a seemingly endless array of merchandise from around the world that can be readily searched, viewed, and purchased online. Furthermore, online auction sites give sellers a readily accessible presence or “storefront” from which to market items to a very large population of potential buyers.
As the popularity of this method of commerce continues to grow, so too have the number of sites and companies which offer online auctions. Presently, there are many different online auction sites which have begun to overlap and compete with one another in terms of listings (including the number and types of merchandise available) and customer base (the number of people viewing and bidding on available goods). A development in the online auction marketplace is that a select few online auction sites currently predominate in terms of merchandise availability and customer base. While such online auction sites have several inherent strengths (e.g., centralized marketplace, wide variety of merchandise, substantial customer base), in certain circumstances they exhibit inherent weaknesses.
For example, one sector of the online auction market which is not well suited to current centralized online auction sites involves the liquidation sale of overstocked or distressed inventory. Liquidation sales arise from a number of sources or channels of commerce. For example, from time to time, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and direct sellers find it necessary to liquidate relatively large quantities of homogeneous goods to clear or update inventories. Such liquidation sales offer a number of challenges for the liquidating party. The inherent laws of supply and demand tend to undermine the yield from the liquidation sale of goods in that maximizing the demand for the goods is difficult to maintain when a large quantity of homogeneous goods is suddenly put up for auction.
Moreover, while the online auction market is a proven business model, there are still a large number of people who are hesitant to participate in online liquidation auctions for the fear of damaging their valuable trademarks. A liquidation sale of goods with valuable brand names and trademarks has the potential to damage the overall brand name or trademark by diminishing the market value of the brand name or trademark in the minds of consumers. Oftentimes, manufacturers and retailers would rather destroy the goods rather than diminish the value of the brand name or trademark through overexposure in a liquidation auction.
Another sector of the online auction market that is not well suited to current centralized online auction sites are charity auctions, which tend to be problematic on a number of levels. Charity auctions typically require volunteers to first solicit businesses and individuals for donations of goods and services for subsequent auction. Oftentimes, such solicitations results in a mixed bag of auction items, which may undermine the monetary success of the auction. Thus, at the outset, the success of an auction is inherently dependent upon the ability of its volunteers to solicit quality merchandise or services. This oftentimes causes needless anxiety to be thrust upon volunteers tasked with soliciting businesses and individuals. Moreover, the businesses and individuals solicited for auction items, oftentimes end up attending or participating in the actual auctions as bidders, which may further limit the expected bids.
Once the solicited items and services have been procured, the charity auction must then catalog the donated items for display at an online auction site. While the high transaction costs inherent with setting up an online auction site may be offset by volunteers or even utilizing an online auction service, the unique donated items must still be photographed and described for each auction. Even with volunteer assistance, the transaction costs may simply be too high for smaller charity auctions having limited participants and items for auction.
From the foregoing, it can be appreciated that there is a need for an improved auction system for handling online charity auctions. To this end, there is a need for an effective online auction business model that provides a simpler, more efficient system for handling all sizes of charity auctions.